Amazon: India as a test case for drone delivery?

By

Matthieu Guinebault

Published
Aug 25, 2014

Having amazed the general public in December with a video of drones shown delivering packages, it now appears that Amazon could put the idea into practice in India.

That’s according to the Times of India, which cited sources that alluded to tests in Diwali. Amazon recently reported working on 25-kilo machines able to travel 80 miles. The drones are capable of carrying parcels weighing 2.26 kilos or less, nearly 86% of parcels delivered by the company.

Nevertheless, the story, which is yet to be confirmed, could come up against the same issue that hinders the deployment of drones United States: the Civil Aviation Authority. Contacted by the Indian press, local officials say they have not received any requests from Amazon.

Amazon drone squadrons should not therefore be able to fly in India in the coming months - not until the authorities have given the green light to the machines.

The video featuring Amazon’s drones generated 14 million views, and sparked many parodies including one by the American company Netflix, which shows the drones bombarding its subscribers with DVDs, and another from Jacques-Antoine Granjon, the head of the French e-commerce company Vente-Privée, promising to deliveries via teleportation “by the end of the century.”

On a more serious note, rumors swirl around Amazon’s logistical ambitions to develop its own fleet of unmanned vehicles.

The American press reports that tests have already been conducted in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.